Coupons

Since the last post, I have been trying to get back into the swing of couponing. I used to be a master at couponing, but I sort of fell out of the habit.

Time to fall back in.

My hero, Yard Sale Queen, inspires me quite a bit. I love reading about her finds and her deals.

My huge grocery bills also inspire me. Since the kids are home this summer, they and their little friends attack my kitchen daily like a band of locusts, so keeping the cabinets and fridge stocked is an ongoing challenge.

This past week, I did something I haven't done in awhile. I visited The CouponClippers site and ordered some coupons based on the sale papers this past week (I prefer to do that than buy a local Sunday paper for $2.00 that I don't read and only get a coupon or two that I need.) My coupons came in the mail on Thursday, and today I trekked out to the three stores that I based the coupon choices on (CVS, Kroger and Publix are near each other, all within 2 miles of the house, so they were the logical choices, considering that gas is ALSO sky high.)

Here's the tally:

Store 1: CVS
This week, CVS was running good sales on Neutrogena (Buy 1, get one 1/2 off) and Nexcare Bandages ($2.99 sale/reg $4.29). My kids go through bandaids to the tune of a box a week in the summer, and I go through Neutrogena lipgloss, lotion and blush to the tune of a tube of each every couple weeks (usually run $7 - $10 per product).

Since I had ordered coupons from The CouponClippers that took $6 off the 4 Neutrogena products, and coupons that took $2 off the 2 packs of Nexcare bandages:

Total: $44.93
Total spent $25.44
Total saved $19.49 (approx 45% savings)

Store 2: Kroger
Note: I took my kid with me this time, and I guess he helped ward off the creepies, because I was NOT accosted at all.

Kroger had some awesome 10 fo $10 deals this week, and other random sales (Chef Boyardee, Fruit Gushers, Cheerios, deli ham, etc.) I had coupons for all the sales, and some were doubled. The total is kind of misleading, because some of the things I bought in the bakery were reduced to 99 cents, and the savings doesn't appear on the register receipt.
Total spent: $54.91
Total saved: $29.59 (40% savings)

Store 3: Publix
Publix kind of screwed me. Unlike CVS and Kroger, who start their new sales every Sunday, Publix has a midweek sale switchup, so the coupons I ordered based on their ad in last Sunday's paper were no longer in effect, but I was still able to use a few and get some deals. Plus, they had a few cartsful of cereal marked to $2 a box, and it was the kind the kids eat, so that was cool.

Total: 70.66
Total spent: 41.83
Savings: 27.93 (right at 40% savings again)

Not bad. Some of the products also have little rebates that go into the kids' UPromise account (anywhere from 5% - 10% is deposited into the account to be used for college money). And Kroger gives me 10 cents off each gallon of gas with my Kroger card, so that's a little more saved there, too.

So . . . screw you, high gas and grocery prices!

Oh, and I paid $4.47 cents for the coupons I ordered, but I have some left, so I may be able to recoup some of that.

So . . . looks like I have to work harder next week to break the 40% savings threshold. I want to be one of those women that walk out with a cartful of crap and a register receipt as long as my arm and hand over $5.

I'll get there.